Final Fantasy VII: Inner Demons
by MariVerdandi
Summary: Post-DoC Sephiroth, on his road to redemption, is suddenly pulled into a battle that spans from the future and back to the present, along with Tifa, Cid, Reeve and later Cloud, who eventually encounter a dark and evil new enemy... FINISHED
1. Prologue

**AUTHOR NOTES****:** Okay, first fanfic since the last 4-5 years, whew. This one was inspired by a certain Nickelodeon movie, but I promise it won't be a half-assed rip-off. It's actually deeper and more grim than said movie, but I thought it would make for a good FFVII fanfic idea. Also, as most of my fanfics will do, it will feature Sephiroth as a good guy, having been granted a second-chance tho he lost alot of the knowledge he gained and had a power decrease, to about what he was in CC. Lastly, if you don't like Sephiroth in a good guy role and/or having a second chance, DO NOT READ and then bitch at me.

**FINAL FANTASY VII: INNER DEMONS**

**Prologue**

_Edge City: 20 years in the future..._

The wind lightly played with his wavy brown hair, tied back in a short pony-tail, some of the wavy locks hanging at the sides of his face. His left foot was down on the ground, steadying the bike he was on, bearing a brown boot as did the other foot. A semi-long, faded black jacket, down to his thighs in length, gently swayed from the wind as well, his white shirt moving with it. He put up his clipboard to make one last delivery, sliding the pen into the side pocket of his grey pants, alongside his phone. The day seemed to have gone by rather fast, but Denzel, 33 years old, didn't really mind. At least he was nearly done with his daily deliveries. He sat and enjoyed the view of the somewhat more technologically advanced Edge a little longer before he straightened his bike and started it up, taking off from the hill soon after.

As he zipped through the country side and towards the city, his mind drifted to recent times. Lately things really started to finally seem content and normal again, some semblance of peace having hovered over the planet for about 5 years now. Feeling the wind in his face, it really felt as if all those dark memories from the past were finally beginning to wane and become more faint, like a blanket of fog had started to lift.

_Is it really okay to finally let myself relax?_,he thought to himself, _Maybe it really is finally over..._

Perhaps it was. It had been 5 years of relative quietness. Coming out of light reminiscing, he made a mental note to go see Reeve about the recent progress of the oil manufacturing. So far, progress had skyrocketed since the last time Denzel has faced _that_ nightmare, beginning the circulation of oil to replace the use of mako and was at the halfway point. Reeve himself, though aged, was in current negotiations with Wutai to further help the replacement along. Reeve had long since served as CEO of the World Regenesis Power Company, having combined and claimed ownership of the old ShinRa Company, with Rufus still providing funding where necessary and currently serving as fellow board member. The people's hostility against ShinRa eventually waned, notably after the joint-union of both companies. As he made his way into the city and slowed down some, his phone began to ring and he reached a hand down to his pocket to answer it.

She was busy tending and picking flowers, still growing around the pool of water in the now very old church when she took out her phone and dialed a number. When Denzel picked up and greeted her, Marlene, 30 years old, could tell he seemed happier, as he had been for awhile now, just as she was. Continuing with her flower duties, she asked when he would be done for the day and the former orphan explained he would go by to see Reeve after his last delivery and then he would come back to help her open the 7th Heaven bar for the night. She agreed and then smiled as he said bye to her and she closed her phone. Yeah, seems things have finally calmed down. She finished with picking flowers and tending to the rest, putting her work-gloves away in a pocket on her faded blue-jean capris and slipping the phone back into the other pocket. She stood up on her dark brown tennis shoes and walked back out of the church to her bicycle, slipping the wrapped flowers in the bag on the handles, mounting said bike. Her white and pink short-sleeve shirt started to sway in an incoming breeze, reaching up to the pink ribbon in her semi-long brown hair. Marlene then rode off back to her florist shop to tally up restock of flowers, reminding her of their wedding day, one of the few happy memories they had.

Denzel finally made his last delivery and stopped his bike just outside of the inner district of Edge to recount his deliveries for the day on his clipboard. He pulled out his pen from the side-pocket of his pants.

"Denzel...", came a subtle and faint, but inherently sinister voice.

His body was suddenly wrought with a very cold shiver, having gone down his spine and even through it. His eyes widened a bit, dropping his pen to the ground and the arm holding the clipboard sank to his lap.

_No... that wasn't... was it..?_,he thought to himself, feeling foreboding beginning to flood his mind, _It can't... no it just can't be!_

He looked around the area, trying to see if anyone else was near him, but found no one. A twinge of an old fear started to prick somewhere within, the breeze in the afternoon feeling as if it had suddenly gone cold. He started to feel those old dark memories beginning to resurface, trying to keep out any images that might come to mind. He knew that voice and it filled him with utter dread.. and underlying sadness. He mounted his bike and sped off, seeing clouds hovering overhead and turning a dark grey, almost black.

_No, not now... not again. Dammit!_,he sped up on the bike, _I thought this was all over... why?_

He pulled his phone out again and dialed a new number. Whatever peace he thought he had started to feel had just completely shattered to pieces.

A gloved hand answered his phone, seeing Denzel's number on it after having noticed the same foreboding feeling in the air. The former orphan's voice sounded a bit shaken and Vincent, now physically in his 40s, could tell he had been right.

Something was very wrong.

The wind began to pick up as Denzel nervously conveyed to the former gunman over his phone to meet up with him at a certain building that was still under construction on the outskirts of the city and then hung up. It was made clear now, Vincent had a very bad feeling about this. Even he had started to think they wouldn't see _him_ again, but it seemed they were wrong. The former Turk made his way to said building, his old but durable red cloak whipping around in the moderate wind, his now shorter hair doing the same, having cut it a few years back from having started to grow too long.

_So it seems, even _you_ are too persistent to be a mere faded memory..._, the gunman thought to himself, his eyes narrowing in irritation and deeper anger, trying to keep down that sliver of fear wanting to creep up.

Marlene, meanwhile, was closing her store for the day when she noticed the dark clouds rolling in and the wind picking up. She thought maybe a storm was coming, but something else started to nagg her at the back of her mind. Feeling as if something wasn't right, her phone went off again, this time in the form of a text message:

**Stay n town & watch every1. HE's here**

Marlene froze when her eyes caught the last part, finding herself mouthing the words 'Oh no..' but no sound came out. She knew exactly who Denzel was talking about, a mix of anger and fear welling up inside her.

_Not him... please no..._,she thought, her mind beginning to race.

She slowly closed the phone and slid it back in her pocket before she finished locking the shop and left her bike chained to the pole, instead walking to the inner district on foot while pulling her black training gloves out of her pocket and slipping them on. When she finally got further into the city, the shrill sounds came, scary sounds... _inhuman_ sounds, unlike any standard Gaian creature. The back of her neck began to prick as she saw them coming into sight. Yes, it was them...

Legion.

She went for one right away as the people began to panic when they saw them, putting a foot in the chest of one and knocking it away, a volley of fists hitting the few others near it. She backflipped and landed a spinning high-kick to one creeping up on her and spared a young man who was on the ground freaking out. She urged him away as fast as she could and went around to others being chased by the demonspawn. Marlene had wanted to help Denzel during _those_ past dark times so she took to training hard to be able to fight hand-to-hand and eventually gained mastery of Martial Arts, just as Tifa before her had, having continued from the few moves the brunette martial artist had originally taught to her. She also garnered good use of staffs and poles, but preferred the former and would only use it in needed times.. such as this one. Denzel himself had eventually learned to handle swords and even use in guns, also carrying his own sword a friend had forged for him after having saved the forger's life from back then.

Marlene continued to keep legion back, but grew tense, beginning to worry about Denzel. As much as she wanted to help him, she knew it was his battle and his alone, especially that time she had almost died before from it... but she had her hands tied with the demonspawn appearing and only had her faith in him to give her hope he would be okay.

_Denzel... be careful._,_._ she thought to herself, pondering what would happen this time.

Denzel stopped his bike and got off, taking his sword with him and making his way into the building-in-progress, the workers apparently having left early. He then picked up Vincent nearby and saw him leaning on an unfinished wall apparently having gotten there first, which meant he probably hadn't been too far away. Denzel walked to him.

"Vince, did you feel-" he was cut off.

"Wait... listen." Vincent said, turning around, facing the direction of the main part of Edge.

Denzel noticed the shrill roaring sounds, "Shit... them too..?" he muttered, becoming slightly frustrated.

"I take it you sensed him?" Vince asked, walking inside, Denzel following.

"No... I heard his voice, but I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from..", Denzel explained, "...I think I heard it in my head.."

The former Turk removed his trademark Cerberus from it's holster.

"I couldn't pinpoint his location either... he seems to be getting good at that." he stated, going on high alert.

The gunman took notice of the nervous expression on Denzel's face and could tell the ordeal was really bothering him. Vince wasn't quite ready to admit it was bothering him too. The former orphan suddenly caught on to an all-too-familiar aura and tensed up more.

"Vince.. he's here." he said in a lower voice.

"I know." replied Valentine.

Denzel tried to pinpoint it but it still wasn't working.

_It feels like he's all around us... this is confusing.._, he pondered, trying to keep his guard up.

The longer he felt _his_ aura, the more the wavy-haired brunette grew more reluctant and inwardly angry with underlying fear. He started to feel chills go down his back. It was too quiet.. _way_ too quiet. Vincent himself was having trouble trying to sense his location, but kept his cool, at least, on the outside. Inside he was feeling nervous, which was very rare for him and it was getting on his nerves. He never liked how he would feel overwhelmed by _his_ aura, when the only other person who made him feel like that at all was..

Denzel was instantly dragged hard to one side, his jacket being yanked on as Vincent had seen it coming a single second before they slammed into the ground where the former orphan had previously been standing. Denzel went on high alert and looked behind, seeing the swords sticking out of the ground. A shiver went through him at the sight.

_Shit... I nearly didn't even see that coming, let alone feel it_, he thought, his mind racing from the narrow dodge, but then something occured to him, _Wait... why are there only 5 swords? He has 6 of-_

He was cut off mid-thought as a spining blur of silver whizzed by right behind him, feeling the air from it, and slammed into Vincent, pinning him to the wall by his cloak, adjacent to the wavy-haired brunette's standing spot. Denzel whipped his head around to see if Vincent was okay for a split second.

"You're getting slow, Denzel." came that sinister voice again.

Putting a chilld down his back, the former orphan turned to see a shadowed figure standing on an unfinished platform some ways away. Denzel tried to keep his his rattled emotions down and gave a serious stare.

"You..." he said to the shadowy figure.

The figure seemed to have shifted in place.

"And here I thought you'd be glad to see me.." he stated, "Tho it seems Vincent is losing his touch as well."

Vincent managed to pull the sword out of the wall to release his cloak, having _narrowly_ dodged the weapon from hitting his abdomen. Denzel kept his eyes on the figure, slowly coming out of the shadows.

"Denzel, are you trying to think you can forget about me? Trying to bury me away with the rest of our past memories somewhere in the back of your mind?". asked the shadowed figure his red eyes piercing into the brunette, "If you actually believed you could, you're severely mistaken.", his tone became more sinister.

"No... you're not him, Cloud died years ago." Denzel retorted, that old pain beginning to surface again.

A sinister grin spread on the figure's face, revealing his black, spikey shoulder-length hair, pale-white skin and piercing red eyes, wearing his original ACC uniform, minus the shoulder pad and battle skirt, but an added black long, floor-length coat, folded just under the elbows of his sleeves.

"Did I? Because I'm standing right here in front of you." mused the demonic Cloud.

**AUTHOR NOTES****:** Bet you didn't see that coming did ya? ;) Hope you guys liked it so far! I'll be trying to get following chapters up when I can, so stay-tuned!


	2. Mixed Emotions

**AUTHOR NOTES****: **Sorry about the few run-on sentence errors in the Prologue, but they should be fixed now. Anyway, thank you, whoever started reading and hopefully you'll like this first chappy ^.^! On with the story...

**FINAL FANTASY VII: INNER DEMONS**

**Chapter 1 - Mixed Emotions**

_Edge City: Present time; 3 years post-DoC..._

The blonde swordsman and former ShinRa MP, Cloud, revved up his bike, Fenrir, after putting his clipboard away, having finished almost all of his current deliveries for the day. He was supposed to meet Tifa early to discuss a party she was throwing for friends that night, wanting to invite all of Avalanche and others for a time to relax and have fun. Luckily he hadn't had many deliveries that week and felt he would be able to relax a bit. Things had been fairly nice for a good while, tho it was still a bit strange to think that their former enemy was now among them, not having shown any signs of turning on them. It was hard to believe 3 years had gone by since Sephiroth had returned, but this time with good intentions it seemed. Cloud had been hesitant at first and the ordeal had quite the fracas of a rocky start, most of the group rejecting him the moment he appeared, even after he tried to explain Aerith had convinced the planet to help piece himself back together after he had partly diffused from his original death. Tifa however, was the one who strongly disagreed the most, angrily stating that he shouldn't even be allowed to exist on the planet. The ex-mercenary was well aware of her expressed hatred of ShinRa and especially Sephiroth and he knew her pain, as Nibelheim had been part of their childhood and hometown with their friends and family.. but he also wanted to let go of the past, as he had started to 4 years ago after the events with Kadaj and his brothers and wanted to keep trying. There were times he still felt a little adverse to the ex-general of SOLDIER, but even after it all, Cloud just wanted to put the past to rest and if Aerith was the one who brought about his return, he did trust her..

Maybe her helping Sephiroth was her way of trying to tell them to face the past and let it go, especially him and Tifa.

Cloud's hesitance mainly started to wane after he had seen honest guilt written on the One-Winged Angel's face and more than once. In fact, he saw it alot in his expressions. It wasn't until after the blonde had caught Marlene talking to him that he had seen literal sadness stricken in Sephiroth's face.. He had gotten upset after Marlene had left because she reminded him of Aerith, the woman he had killed. The blonde knew right then, that was pure, genuine guilt. And Sephiroth was _never_ one to bluff. It was then that he allowed the fallen angel his chance and slowly started to grow used to his presence. Though Tifa's hatred had waned some, she was still a bit adverse to him and didn't like being alone in the same room with the former villain, let alone letting Marlene talk to him, whom often tried and succeeded to speak to him, regardless of the brunette's or her father Barret's opposition. Aside from them, Vincent was the only one who seemed indifferent on the subject of Sephiroth's presence, though Cloud suspected it had to do with the fact that the angel was Lucrecia Crescent's only son. Somehow, the swordsman couldn't really blame him for that, though. The gunman had quite the history with his mother, afterall.

Cloud's slow acceptance of Sephiroth did bring about arguments now and then between him and the brunette fighter, usually ending with her leaving the room and Cloud feeling awkward and frustrated. He had gotten a little better at being more confident in talking to her, due to their relationship, but there were times he ended up going silent from her angry replies. He had repeatedly expressed to her, before, he simply wanted to close the door on the old, painful memories they shared to a degree and though she knew he was trying to let go, she herself was unable to, at least not for a long while. All in all, they did remain together as a couple and Tifa was partly glad he was trying to be stronger. In the end, Cloud knew only she could deal with her great contempt against Sephiroth.

He eventually made his way to the 7th Heaven bar, stopping Fenrir and parking it in the newly-built garage. He put the kick-stand down and walked into the bar-front.

"Cloud. You're earlier than I thought.", Tifa stated and smiled, cleaning off the countertop.

"Didn't have too many deliveries today.", he sat down at a nearby booth, "You asked anyone to come yet?"

"Yes, I have, already made some calls.", Tifa put the rag in the sink, "Yuffie's in town so she's coming, Barret, Cid, Reeve and surprisingly, Vincent answered his phone and agreed. I guess even he misses us."

Tifa laughed some. Cloud raised an eyebrow and shifted in the booth.

"He did? Huh.. I guess so.", he chuckled.

Cloud went into thought then, wondering if she would invite Sephiroth, then spoke.

"Hey, you going to allow Seph?" he asked.

Tifa froze for a second and her content expression suddenly went blank. She took in a breath and looked away partly.

"I don't know... I wasn't exactly planning to." she stated in an incredibly flat tone, lined with slight venom.

"I'm going to be here Tifa we all are. I know you guys arent comfortable around him yet, even I'm not completely comfortable.. but" he sat up, "at least let him be here. You don't have to talk to him."

She sighed heavily, "Alright, fine, he can come. But one wrong move and he's out of here, I mean it." her tone had a little more venom in laced in it.

"Alright." Cloud replied, thinking to himself.

He knew she hated him and was still sore about their hometown and Aerith, but the blonde felt she'd only be able to get used to him if she was around him. All he wanted was for her to just give him a chance. He walked towards the door.

"Alright, I'm gonna go get the supplies." he stated to her, and left the bar.

Tifa continued to tidy up the kitchen for another 5 minutes before she decided to go check on Marlene, whom fell asleep half an hour prior. She walked up the stairs leading to the back rooms and peaked into one in particular. She peaked in and was met with an empty bed, her expression changing to a look of question. She then checked the other rooms but she was unable to find her.. then it hit her. A hand went to her forehead when she realized what had happened.

_30 minutes ago... that was when he left.._, she thought to herself, _She followed him again..._

The brunette sighed heavily to herself and went to go grab her keys to the WRO truck Reeve had left her, the same one she and Barret had used in the assault against Deepground. Sephiroth was the last person she wanted to see right now, let alone at all, but she wanted to make sure Marlene was okay. Plus, her father was coming to pick her up today from overtime at the oil rigs. Tifa could never understand why the 10 year old girl insisted on hanging around and talking to _that_ man.

Cloud took a bit to get off of his bike, having drifted into deep thought. Though he had made some progress, he had to admit to himself, he was still having a little trouble letting go of other things in his past.. namely his best friend and a certain Cetra... He understood now that it wasn't his fault, but it still bothered him at times. Another issue was his deepest fear: being unable to protect Tifa, the one he loved most, his friends by extension.. even Sephiroth, whom he had come to care for in the past 3 years, especially after he had seen his tears. He had suffered a terrible nightmare a few days back and ever since, it had been plaguing him, wondering what he would ever do if he ever actually lost her. The very thought scared him, but he was trying his best to deal with it. Adding onto that was the fact that at times, he felt Tifa would push him away now and then over her ensuing hatred for Seph. Even if they always managed to get over their arguments, Cloud actually did fear she would eventually lock him out because she wouldn't let go..

He shook his head, trying to tell himself not to overthink it all, and put the kickstand down, getting off the bike and going into the store.

The One-Winged Angel sat on debris from a broken pillar in the church, fidgeting with the cellphone Reeve had gotten for him on request from the blonde swordsman. He had only ever used said phone once, the time when he had called Cloud to talk about his guilt and opened up a bit to him. On occasion, he did recieve text messages from Yuffie, which were usually "..hi" and then more dots. How she got his number he honestly didn't know, though he suspected she must've gotten it out of the WRO Commissioner. Speaking of guilt, Sephiroth was admittedly still feeling the weight of it, even after 3 years of having been here. He did feel a bit better that Cloud had started to accept him to a good degree, but being around Tifa only made it worse. In fact...

It honestly hurt to be around her.

He could always feel her deep anger rolling off like waves from her aura and it always made him feel uncomfortable. He usually kept his distance from her for this reason as well as not wanting her to feel threatened in any way. He admitted to Reeve before that it frustrated him because he really was trying to do some good and yet she didn't seem to at least acknowledge it and then felt doubly worse when Cloud would have arguments with her over him. All Seph really wanted to do was just find a place in the world and be able to prove that he could do some good.. and not destroy everything he touched, as Tifa had said to him before. There were many times he wanted to tell her how sorry he really was for nearly destroying her's and the blonde's lives 11 years ago.. but he knew she'd never accept it, not like that. It wasn't enough and it never would be. As well, he was clinically insane that night, right after he found out the devastating truth about himself, though he knew now part of it wasn't true.

His thoughts then drifted to Marlene. It honestly surprised him that she often made the effort to talk to him and even considered him a friend, much to her father and Tifa's chagrin. She was always so nice to him.. and it didn't help that her pink hair bow only reminded him of the Cetra he had taken the life of. He honestly had never known the flower girl, but he had come to learn Marlene had been close to her and she had been a good friend to Cloud and company, which only added to his heavy guilt. Yet the 10 year old girl was being nice to him...

It was both comforting and upsetting.

He decided to put his phone away, coming out of deep thought when he heard the sound of an engine pulling up outside. He had a feeling he knew who it was and it was confirmed when the brunette's familiar form appeared in the doorway.

Sephiroth avoided eye-contact with her as she came further into the rundown building. She seemed hesitant about something, with her usual icy demeanor to him before she finally spoke.

"..Where's Marlene?" she asked, firmly with a flat tone.

He continued to look at the ground.

"Her father came to pick her up 10 minutes ago.." he answered.

_Hm, I guess Barret beat me to her.._, she thought to herself.

It likely hadn't gone too well, considering Seph had been with her. Tifa shifted her weight to another foot.

"...Cloud asked me to invite you to our get-together.. at the bar." she stated, again with a flat tone, "Just do me a favor and keep yourself under control."

That last part brought up slight irritation in the former villain, but he ignored it.

"Alright." he replied to her, flatly.

Tifa then turned to leave when she saw another truck pulling up. The angel stood up just as the truck stopped and Reeve Tuesti came out from the driver's side, Tifa recognizing Cid's bright-blonde hair in the passenger seat.

"Reeve, what are you doing here?" Tifa asked.

"Oh good, I knew I recognized your truck." he replied, "I was going over to the bar, coming through the ruins and I saw your truck here."

"Is something wrong?" she asked again.

"Well, I would've called, but the battery of my phone died a few days ago, so I decided to ask when I found you." Reeve shifted, "I wanted to know if you knew were Cloud was? I'm curious as to whether or not he's willing to take on more deliveries?"

As they continued to converse, Sephiroth took notice of a strange feeling. Something about the church started to feel.. odd. He started to pace, trying to figure out where that odd feeling was coming from and felt it was a little stronger around the pool of water. As he came closer he noticed a strange glow in the water as well as the flowers around it. A nagging feeling was beginning to bother him, when Cid jumped out of the passenger seat and came up to the others, seeming rather happy.

"So wut time's this party of yours?" he asked, leaning against the inside wall of the building.

"Oh, I didn't realize he was here." the Commissioner stated, having glanced in the former general's direction, but then took notice of the expression on his face, "Are you alright, Sephiroth?"

Tifa went quiet.

"Something feels off.." Seph explained, "It almost feels like a presence, but I'm not sure. It's here in the church, namely around the pool.

Reeve's expression went to a more serious tone. If anyone had senses like Vincent, it was Sephiroth, though the silver-haired swordsman's were often stronger.

"Is it sinister?" he asked.

"No, it's weak, but the aura feels... slightly erratic."

"Is there somethin' swimmin' around in the pool?" Cid asked, cautiously walking forward, the others following suit.

"No, but.. the water seems to have fogged over.", Seph replied.

Indeed it had and that eerie feeling was only growing stronger. Sephiroth walked to the edge of the water and saw the glow increasing.

_That looks like Lifestream... But what's going on?_, he thought, on alert.

"..Is it Aerith?" Tifa questioned.

As if on cue, a voice drifted to their ears, subtle but clear.

"..help us..."

A sudden flow of green energy flowed up and out of the pool of water, surrounding all 4 of them, filling the entire rundown church with a pale green glow. They heard the same voice call out again, only it was a little louder and it sounded as it was almost begging... it also sounded very much like the flower girl. Cloud had just pulled up next to the trucks outside when he saw the light disappear just as he got through the remaining door...

The church was empty.

...and the only thing left on the ground was a strand of silver hair.

**AUTHOR NOTES****: **Whew, for some reason this chapter was hard to flesh out x_x. Hope you guys are curious as to what's going to happen now! Hope you stay-tuned for more chappys! ^_^!


	3. Future Shock

**AUTHOR NOTES****: **Alrighty peeps, it's gonna get good now so hold on to your hats! Also, I'd like to note, if any grammar errors are evident, I'll try to go back and fix them as I continue with this story, so no worries. Okays on with the story ^.^!

**FINAL FANTASY VII: INNER DEMONS**

**Chapter 2 - Future Shock**

A small groan escaped her mouth as her body began to respond to her, her dark brown hair playing over her face from an apparent breeze. Tifa slowly opened her eyes, dizzy and slightly groggy, trying to focus and moving to sit up. She stretched out her arms, realizing she was almost entirely face-down, when her right hand hit something hard. She looked to where it was and the image that came into view was what looked like building debris, a piece of metal sticking out of the solid cement. Her thoughts began to stabilize as she started to wonder if something was wrong, managing to pull herself up on her elbows and sitting up completely.

It suddenly came back to her in an instant, the memory of the green Lifestream energy coming out of the pool of water in the church, her expression turning to confusion and surprise.

_That's right.. the Lifestream_, she thought to herself, _what happened? And where are the others? Are we someplace new?_

She looked around trying to seek out Reeve, Cid and even Sephiroth, but was also met with the area surrounding her. There was rubble and debris everywhere, broken things and even the road was cracked in some places. There were buildings further in the distance, but they didn't seem as damaged as the area she was in. For a second she almost thought a tornado had blown through. The place was different, but somehow, it felt oddly familiar too. The sky itself seemed rather dark, almost black as if a storm was lingering, evidenced by the faint lightning, but yet no thunder. The brunette was shocked.

_It looks like a battle was waged here_..., something suddenly occurred to her, _No.. don't tell me _he_ did this.. I should've known he was a liar!_

Anger began to well up from within, almost sure the collateral damage had to have been done by Sephiroth. Who else could tear up the place so horribly? Though it seemed they had been pulled somewhere else, she was positive it was a good chance for him to stab them all in the back.

_Cloud, you're such an idiot.. You would show even kindness to _him_ and yet he would only betray us all again..._, she thought, balling her hands into fists, irritated that Cloud had defended him a lot, even tho he himself had not entirely been comfortable with that man either.

She stood up, ready to put a fist in Sephiroth's face and started to seek the others out when something caught her peripheral vision. She stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly, the image of blonde hair coming into view. Her breath caught in her throat when she realized it was Cloud, sitting halfway up about 25 feet away. Surprise streaked her face again.

"Cloud!", she exclaimed and jogged to him.

_Cloud's here too? He must've showed up at the church when the Lifestream light filled the place_., she surmised mentally.

She knelt beside him on the ground.

"Cloud, are you alright?" she asked, "I guess the Lifestream brought you here too."

"Perhaps..." he stated, but his tone sounded odd.

He felt a little strange to the brunette.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked again, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You don't sound right..."

_..Why does this feel almost.. wrong?_, was the thought that crossed her mind.

A gloved hand began wrapping around the wrist that wasn't on his shoulder.

"You're almost too easy." he said in a very low, almost dark tone.

The second before she reacted, something silver came flying and slammed itself hard into the blonde, sending him flying off into debris some yards away. The brunette martial artist was mentally crowded over with shock and more confusion before a voice cut through it.

"Tifa, stay away from him!"

She turned to face the direction the voice came from and saw a slightly tall, average built man with wavy brown hair and blue eyes coming towards her, wearing a faded black jacket, white shirt and grey pants with brown boots.

Denzel was dumbfounded. He didn't know how it was possible but somehow Tifa was really there... and apparently the sinister, raven-haired Cloud must've figured it out before he did, having used his original form against her.

_Damn, I nearly forgot he could do that_.., he thought, mentally kicking himself.

The brunette was staring at him, confounded.

"What are you talking about-", she called out, but then stopped short.

_Wait a second.. how did he know my name?_

"Who are you? Why did you attack him-" she was stopped short again, but this time not by herself.

The sound of rubble moving and being forced aside, made her turn back around to look.

"You're always a thorn in my side, Denzel." stated Cloud, walking out of the debris eyes now burning red.

More confusion slammed into Tifa.

_Denzel? He called him Denzel?_, the confusion was starting to overwhelm her, _Cloud? What's going on!_

A feeling of dread and something akin to fear flooded her, watching as Cloud walked towards them. His aura surged and became stronger, like pressure was pressing against her and there even seemed to be a slight red glow around him, but it felt sinister. The dark-haired brunette's mind was racing, so many questions wanting to be answered and was confused as to what had just took place. Denzel broke into a run, trying to get to her faster before something bad happened.

"I'll deal with you later." stated the now darker sounding Cloud, moving a hand.

Denzel was forced forward as something sharp grazed his back, cutting through his jacket, shirt and into his skin a bit deep, a loud painful sound escaping his mouth. It was a piece from the Fusion sword and a second piece came flying into him with even more force, knocking him off the ground and into a wall of debris. Denzel hit the ground and was silent, having been knocked out from impact. Tifa was overwhelmed with shock, dread and confusion. Something was very wrong here, but she was so clouded over mentally she didn't know what to make of it.

"Now that he's out of the way..." Cloud stated, turning his red eyes to her.

A strange feeling began to enter her mind before an invisible force abruptly pulled her to her knees, leaving her unable to barely move. She saw what looked like static, but colored red, flowing around herself as pangs of fear started to take hold of her. The cold looking blonde stopped in front of her and looked down.

"Tifa...", he mused, "I still remember you. It's been such a long time since I've seen you last."

She looked up, worry streaking her face and continued to struggle. She was starting to feel like it was harder to breath, even just looking at him seemed to make her feel more unnerved and scared, her thoughts racing even more. He placed a hand on her face as if he were stroking her skin and she flinched slightly.

"You're almost exactly as I remember, interesting. That only means you haven't met your ill fate, at least, not yet." his tone became more sinister.

"Cloud... what's going on? What are you doing?" she managed to say, pure confusion and nervousness in her voice.

"You're scared.. I can feel it.", Cloud stated, his amusement turning to irritation accompanied by an icy stare, "You know, there were times you made me feel like a whining, helpless child, because I had trouble with things.."

He moved his hand over her collarbone to her neck. Tifa tensed up, the need to struggle increasing. Denzel had stirred, dizzy and had blurry vision, barely catching onto what was happening.

"..what are you trying to do?" her voice was starting to break.

_This can't be Cloud... something's wrong with him! Why is he doing this!_

His hand closed around her throat and the grip began to tighten, causing panic to flood her mind.

"Please.. no..." she said, eyes going shut as her breath began to decrease.

"Made me feel like I couldn't do anything without your help.."

She felt her throat clench very tight, feeling his thumb pushing up on the indentation of her windpipe. Her vision blurred as her struggling began to slow down.

"Well guess what?", his voice dropped very low, "I don't need your help anymore."

"..Cloud... n-no..." she tried to get out, voice cracking from strangulation.

Her eyes glazed over after reopening, movement beginning to cease...

A silver and black blur suddenly cut right between the two like a knife, Cloud's hand being jerked away by another as Tifa was shoved to one side and to the ground, rolling some til she stopped bout 10 feet away. The blackness that had flooded most of her mind suddenly began to dissipate, mentally screaming to make herself breath for almost 5 seconds before she physically started struggling for air, frantically. Her lungs erratically tried to restore oxygen, forcing her to cough hard and nearly went into a body-spasm_._ Her blurry and hazy vision slowly cleared as her lungs began to stablilize, trying to focus. What started coming into view was silver hair, slowly realizing who it was.

Denzel caught his breath when he saw the sight as well, having nearly had a heart-attack when he came to and saw her nearly die.

_..is that..._, she thought to herself.

Cloud had an expression of surprise on his face, a gloved hand gripping his own in front of him as a pair of teal-colored, slitted eyes gave that trademark menacing, cold stare.

"Don't even _think_ about it." came Sephiroth's voice, cold, sharp and tinged with anger, but subtle.

Denzel, though shocked at seeing both Tifa and now Sephiroth, felt relieved that he had managed to save her and tried to get up, albeit his wounded back.

The surprise on the sinister former blonde's face soon changed to amusement.

"Sephiroth. Long time no see.", he said in a low tone, transforming back into his black-haired, white-skinned self, eyes still burning red.

The former General of SOLDIER was clearly livid. This wasn't the Cloud he knew, especially since he knew Cloud would _never_ try to kill Tifa, let alone even hurt her. It made him angry to see him do such a thing.. admitting to himself mentally it only forced up the memory of when he himself had almost killed her that certain night, which only fueled his budding anger and guilt. He noted the change in appearance bt made no mention of it.

"I guess you're here as well. I was right then, Aerith managed to pull something. Heh, guess I let my guard down with her a bit too much." said Cloud, not trying to move just yet.

So it was Aerith who called out to us.., Seph thought to himself, maintaining his position.

He had already figured out they had been pulled somewhere else and had a hunch it was for a reason, but he hadn't quite figured it out yet. Regardless, something told him they weren't in their own world anymore, per se. Something else was bothering him though. The longer he looked at Cloud, the more it unnerved him that he was seriously not right. He felt like him, but at the same time, he didn't and it made no sense whatsoever. Ontop of that, he could barely feel his J-cells in his body, but why was it so faint? His aura was unsually strong and even striking, seeing the same faint red hue around him as Tifa had. Even worse...

He didn't even feel human, which only disturbed him further.

"Something bothering the One-Winged Angel? I can see it in your eyes, you know." mused Cloud.

Sephiroth's composure momentarily faulted. This raven-haired Strife had read partly into his face and it caught him off-guard.

_What the hell.. Cloud was never able to read my expressions_., Seph pondered, pricking annoyingly in his head now.

That only brought up a pang of frustration. He didn't like the feeling of uncertainty over a situation...

No, he didn't like that _at all_.

His grip on Cloud's wrist tightened. This was definitely not right. The level of power coming from him was making itself known to Sephiroth now. He tensed his body and sharpened his senses.

"Do not attempt to think you can toy with me so easily." stated the former villain, his own aura beginning to expand into its familiar, piercing pressure.

"I'm well aware of that..", having said that, Cloud immediately swiped his left foot up at the angel.

Sephiroth was forced to let go of his wrist and dodged the blow, jumping backwards as the red-eyed Cloud came at him fast.

As they started to fight, Denzel managed to make his way over to Tifa, who had finally sat up and was breathing straight.

"Hey, let's get back. This will probably get crazy." he said, extending his hand to her.

A look of deep hurt was evident on her face and, though initially reluctant, he urged her to do so and she eventually reached out and took it, standing up and hurrying away from the ensuing fight. He took her a ways away and eventually sat down, trying to ignore the pangs of pain from the deep wound on his back. She slowly sat near him, having clearly suffered shock. A near-minute of silence endured before he spoke.

"I'm sorry..."

She looked up at him then, making it clear she was very close to crying.

"...Why did he... He tried to... He.." she tried to say, but found herself studdering, a hand slowly moving to where Clouod had strangled her.

"Tifa... that's not the Cloud you used to know. He's.. he's a demon." he tried to explain, his own dull pain pricking at him again.

He was sure she wasn't from this time now, she looked just as she had before, on that day... He also knew this was going to be hard for her to swallow, but he didn't want her to misunderstand the situation.

"Listen, I know it hurts that he tried to kill you, believe me, I know... but you gotta remember who he really is, the Cloud you know. Remember, the Cloud you love would never do this to you. The one who did this to you is not human... not anymore.", he added.

"Not... human..?" she asked, a tear rolling down her face.

"It's a long story..", he looked down.

"What... what's happening... What...", Tifa finally broke down and started to cry.

Denzel wrapped his arms around her as she cried into his shoulder, letting loose all of the crowded emotions that had flooded her head earlier. He felt guilty that she had to witness that first-hand, after she somehow managed to get here, tho it sounded like Aerith must've had something to do with it. He opened his phone and texted to Marlene again, hoping she was okay.

**AUTHOR NOTES****: **I know that got really crazy o_o;; but, it establishes mood and seriousness. More on evil Cloud will be revealed in the next chappy, so stay-tuned!


	4. Dark Memories Past

**AUTHOR NOTES: **Okay, well I edited and put in chapter names, tho they're probably a bit lame xD, but I think it gives it more feel. Anyway, I hope this isn't going by too fast and hopefully you guys will eventually notice some symbolism I was intending. Alrighty, on with the new chappy!

**FINAL FANTASY VII: INNER DEMONS**

**Chapter 3 - Dark Memories Past**

"Wut the hell's goin' on here?", Cid asked out loud, trudging around with Reeve nearby, "We wake up in some weird place an' everythin's destroyed!"

Reeve was busy trying to figure out the answer to that.

"I'm not sure, but it's possible the Lifestream that came out of the pool likely brought us here... but where is this?", he voiced out loud.

"This makes no damn sense..." muttered the bright-blonde pilot, kicking a few pieces of debris around.

The Comissioner went into deep thought. Something must be wrong if the Lifestream somehow brought them here, and the voice they heard really did sound like Aerith.. but what did it all mean? It had only been half an hour ago or so that they both awakened and then ran into each other, but already something was feeling off.

"Man, I don' like this one bit.", said the pilot, "This place feels creepy and.. weird."

"I'd have to agree." replied the Commissioner.

They continued walking further.

"So how many of us ya think are here?" asked Cid.

"Hmm, perhaps those of us at the church when the Lifestream appeared..."

"Wherever we are, somethin' really bad happened here, and I think we should figure it out."

"Agreed. First we should locate Tifa and Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth..." the pilot stated, seemingly uncertain, "Never thought I'd see the day.."

Reeve looked at him, "I take it you're not happy about it either?"

"I don' know, it's just.. kinda weird, ya know? Sure I don' like what the crazy bastard did but.. It seems creepier that he ain' done nothin' else since and been all quiet. I don' know what to think of it.", he explained.

"I see."

"Do ya think it's right that Cloud's allowin' him to stay?"

"Well.. I can understand why most of you felt offended by it, namely Tifa and Barret, but.. perhaps he just wants to start over and move on, maybe he wants all of us to. It's hard to let go of the past but, it has to be done.", Reeve answered.

"I guess I see your point.. Well, I ain' about to trust him anytime soon.."

Reeve was about to reply when a sound caught their ears and both stopped dead.

"Wut the..." started the pilot.

"I heard it too...", Reeve tensed up.

The pilot turned around when he heard the noise again and then he saw it, alerting the WRO Commissioner. It was a large creature, but unlike any creature of Gaia they had ever seen. It was dark, almost black and had brown, red and purple faded shades on it and it was a tad scary looking, a little reminiscent of the Shadow Creepers Kadaj and his brothers summoned. Reeve reached back for the gun in his jacket, only to find nothing.

_Damn.. I must've lost it somehow.., _he thought.

"Wut in the hell is that thing?" Cid stated out loud, also realizing he was unarmed without his spear.

The blonde pilot then put up a fist, knowing he'd have to fight by hand and the creature jumped at them.

"Yaaahhh!" came a feminine yell as a foot slammed down hard on the creature, a second kicking it hard. Both the pilot and the Commissioner were taken by surprise as the figure was clearly female. She did a spinning kick and knocked the hideous creature away and ran after it, but then it disappeared. She stayed alert for a few minutes, making sure the creature wouldn't come back while catching her breath and then turned around.

"Hey, are you guys alr-", her sentence went unfinished when her mouth dropped open and gasped, having taken notice of both men.

"..Cid? But how.. and Reeve?" she asked, doing a double-take.

She could tell something wasn't right. Reeve seemed younger than he usually looked and Cid...

Her mind briefly drifted back to when he had passed away in the Med center from lung cancer.

Reeve took note of the pink bow in the woman's hair and had a funny hunch he knew who it was.

"Is that you.. Marlene?" he asked.

"Wut?", Cid stared at Reeve then back at the woman.

"Yes, it's me.. Wait, what's going on? Reeve you look younger and Cid.. my god, it's really you.." she stated, staring at the bright-blonde pilot.

_..Are they possibly not from here too, like Denzel said in the text about Tifa and Sephiroth?_

"Can somebody tell me what the hell's goin' on here?", the pilot was getting impatient and even more confused.

Marlene was having trouble keeping down her shock at seeing Cid, but continued to speak.

"A-are you guys looking for Tifa and Sephiroth?"

"Yes, do you know where they are?", the Commisioner answered.

She turned to face another direction, "I got an idea, follow me."

Both men followed as she lead the way.

Tifa had finally stopped crying and became rather quiet, Denzel making a note that she was probably still in slight shock. He couldn't sit there and leave the silver-haired swordsman to fight Cloud alone.. Sephiroth may be very strong, but he doesn't know what the raven-haired Strife is capable of. He sat up and peered over the chunk of metal and saw that both were still battling a ways away. having done so for 15 minutes now. He had to do something..

The former General slid to a stop after dodging the Fusion sword pieces again, trying to keep his eye on the sinister Cloud. He was starting to feel slightly worn and he didn't like it one bit. This Cloud was really strong, having matched him blow for blow and then some, but it was too strange. The former blonde stopped 8 feet away.

"This is interesting. The last time we fought, you were too weak to fight at this speed, barely able to defend yourself..", he stated, "but I'm intrigued now.

Sephiroth's eyebrow twitched. What did he mean 'he was too weak' before?

_What is he talking about? We fought before?_, he thought, _None of this is making sense... _

"What's wrong with you? You don't seem to feel any remorse for hurting Tifa." stated the angel with a firm tone.

"Did you? When you tried to kill her yourself, that night?" Cloud retorted.

Sephiroth took in a sharp breath and tensed up. That went deep, almost too deep..

"That has nothing to do with you.."

"Oh really?", Cloud mused, "Or did you forget who you're speaking to?", a demonic tone lined his voice.

The silver-haired swordsman started to feel rather uneasy.

"It has everything to do with it..", he started to pace, "But then, you're running away.".

"Stop the games, Cloud.." came a voice.

The former villain turned to see the wavy-haired man he saw earlier, coming towards them.

"Games? This is no game..", a wicked smile spread on his face, "and I'm just getting started..".

Cloud then disappeared, as if to thin air. This time, Denzel's eyebrow twitched.

_That was wierd... why did he just leave?_, he pondered.

"Denzel.. right?" Sephiroth asked.

"Yeah.. thank you for saving Tifa.." Denzel replied.

"You're welcome. Where is she?"

"She's safe, but.. she's really upset... I'm sorry for all this.", the brunette looked down.

"We need to figure this out, first.", the angel stated.

Denzel nodded, leading him back to Tifa. She was still sitting with her knees up to her chest, eyes still pink from crying. Sephiroth thought better not to get too close, wanting to avoid scaring her. He then looked up just as a voice sounded.

"Denzel!"

The brunette looked up to see Marlene coming near with 2 others, both of whom he recognized and went to her.

"Oh Denzel, your back.." she started, noticing his wound, "I was so worried about you.."

"Yeah but it'll be okay, the pain's gone down some." he replied.

"So you're Denzel?" Cid asked in near-disbelief.

"Yeah.. wow, it's really you. And Reeve?" he looked at the WRO leader, when he heard a gasp escape from Marlene's mouth.

She was staring at Sephiroth.

"...Sephy..?" she managed to say, a look of shock on her face.

"Marlene?" he asked.

She walked forward slowly and then sped up, throwing her arms around him as he stumbled back somewhat. She hugged him, catching him off-guard and then looked up, a tear falling from her eye.

"It's really you... I missed my best friend...", her expression was a mixture of happiness and sadness.

Sephiroth was surprised at her reaction.

"Denzel, can you explain to us what's going on?" he asked.

"Yeah, we need to.." replied the brunette.

Marlene eventually helped Tifa up, who showed partial surprise at her and acquintances were established as they headed back towards the city, Vincent eventually locating them. They made their way to the old 7th Heaven bar to talk about the situation, making sure no other demonspawn where around, the rest of the City people having gone to hide. Marlene shut the door and turned the lights on, revealing the bar to have been partly remodeled, Tifa, Reeve and company realizing they were still in Edge.

"I guess it's safe to say you guys aren't from this time.", Denzel started.

He pulled out some glasses to pour water into as Marlene went for the first-aid kit.

"I thought so..", Sephiroth replied.

"Is this really... the future..?", Tifa finally asked.

"Yeah..." Marlene answered, sitting down with the kit, the rest following suit.

"What happened here?", asked the Commissioner.

The wavy-haired swordsman passed out the water and then took a seat next to Marlene, trying to figure out where to begin. She pulled his shirt up on his back and tended to his large wound.

"It's a long story but.. if Aerith brought you guys here, then you need to know.. what happened to Cloud.."

Tifa flinched at the name, Marlene putting an arm around her.

"Reeve, you and Cid weren't here earlier but, Cloud tried to kill Tifa..", Denzel looked down.

Both men looked up, dumfounded and Marlene slowly shut her eyes.

"Cloud tried to kill her?", the pilot asked out loud.

"He's not the Cloud you guys know...", replied the blue-eyed brunette.

Vincent remained quiet as Denzel took a deep breath.

"It started 15 years ago..", he began.

Everyone looked at him now.

"...You guys had just gotten over a fight with a stagnant mako-induced monster that ran amok after an accident at a mako reactor. Sephiroth was taken to the ER because it poisoned him with the stagnant type, causing his body to severely weaken and made him very ill. Reeve, you told us the stagnant type was highly unstable and well, being it was exposed to the stabilized type flowing through Sephiroth's body.. it almost killed him.."

The silver-haired swordsman glanced at Denzel.

_Stagnant mako.. I remember hearing that before.._,he thought to himself.

Denzel continued, "Cloud got a little sick too from several minor injuries, having been exposed also, but he wasn't nearly as bad.

Alot of issues had been going around, particularly between you, Tifa, and Cloud..", Denzel eyed the former general at this, answering the question in her eyes, "You guys had been having alot of arguments and things weren't too good. Other stuff as well but, after the fight, it was only 2 days later when the demon showed up..."

Denzel, took another breath, trying to ignore the stings from the ointment as the others kept their eyes on him.

"Cloud was still a little worn from the fight with the monster, but he was forced to fight it alone, due to Sephiroth's ill status at the time. We were busy trying to fight off the demonspawn infesting the city, so our hands were tied too.. We were scattered all over the place, but we could still see Cloud's hard battle with the demonic being. He looked tired afterwhile and the demon was unrelenting.. and then it got worse..."

Marlene looked down, pausing, the blue-eyed brunette continuing after his own pause.

"The demon gave us a low blow.. and blindsided Tifa, catching her off-guard and.. fatally wounded her on her abdomen and left side.."

Tifa's eyes widened. Sephiroth took in a low, but sharp breath, Reeve and Cid both stared at him, surprised. Vincent remained silent.

"Cloud caught it the second after it happened and.. it tore him to pieces. We were all stunned by it, but Cloud.. he flew into a rage. It's like something just snapped and he.. grew so angry.. What was unusual was that he flared up in his Final Limit break abnormally fast and.. his aura changed. His eyes had turned that eerie teal-green shade and it was a little creepy.."

"Jenova..", Sephiroth interjected, knowing all-too well what her cells can do to those who possess them.

"Yeah.. his J-Cells seemed to have suddenly re-awakened and went into overdrive.. But, when he attacked the demon, that was the turning point..", the brunette swordsman swallowed.

"He can't control his cells.. not like I can..", Sephiroth said again.

"No, he couldn't... when he attacked the demon it was like he somehow, combined with it.. and he became something else entirely..."

"..What happened to him..?" asked the martial artist, sounding scared.

"He just let out this almost earpiercing scream.. but it didn't sound human. This huge wave of power was just rolling off of him like wind gusts, alot of lights and such breaking.. and then he was gone."

_Metamorphosis_.., the angel thought again.

"Oh no..", Reeve mumbled out, a grim and eerie atmosphere covering the room like a blanket.

Cid swallowed, "..holy shit..".

Marlene finally spoke up, placing the bandages on his wound.

"..By the time we got Tifa to the ER.. it was too late. She had internal bleeding and.. bled to death..", her eyes briefly went to the floor, "After that, we spoke to you, Sephy.. you told us that Cloud's cells were re-awakened from his rage.. but you were too sick to suppress them.", she closed her eyes, "You had felt it happen when you were in the med-center, trying to sleep."

Several in the room shifted, the atmosphere hanging heavy.

"Wut the hell.. this is just crazy.." Cid stated, trying to process all of it.

Denzel shifted some after she finished the bandaging, trying to shake the eeriness in the room.

"..So, the Cloud that tried to kill Tifa earlier was..", Reeve started.

"Our enemy..", Denzel stated, "When he came back a week after he disappeared.. he wasn't the same Cloud anymore. ...Sephiroth, you were still weak and recovering from the poisoning when you saw him.. you were barely able to defend yourself.. but Cloud killed you. The severe wounds you suffered from his sword didn't heal fast enough because you were sick."

Now it made sense to the angel, why Cloud had spoken about a battle between them.

_**"..The last time we fought, you were too weak to fight at this speed, barely able to defend yourself.."**_

An eerie feeling creeped into Sephiroth's mind. His power level was so strong.. and he didn't like the fact that he seemed so..

..so evil.

"We only knew it was him, when we found your body not long after.. and then I fought him the first time, barely surviving."

"And for the next 15 years", the blue-eyed brunette explained, "..it was a nightmare. I fought him many times more, and nearly died through half of them.. Marlene almost died once too. It's been like this ever since."

Reeve let out a sigh, processing all that was said.

"Denzel, when I fought him earlier.. he felt inhuman. But then at the same time, it was like it was him.. I could barely feel his J-Cells at all.", Sephiroth stated, confused.

"Yeah.. honestly we don't know if it is him or not, it always seems to go back and forth."

The commissioner looked up, "So he's a demon?".

"We call him a demon because he feels demonic. His aura makes that clear, even if our senses aren't nearly as strong as Vincent's or Sephiroth's.", Denzel leaned against a wall, "The only reason I can feel him, is because he's gotten into my head several times.."

"Damn, this _is_ crazy." Cid got up and started to pace, feeling very uneasy.

"This Cloud is not someone you want to underestimate.. he's very dangerous and.. he has a habit of using his old self against us.", he explained more, "He'll try to mentally get into your head and try to weaken you. He also may try to torture you.. he did that to you, Seph.. before he killed you."

The former general felt a chill go down his spine. Why was this creeping him out? His mind started to wander back to when he fought him earlier..

_**"Did you? When you tried to kill her yourself, that night?" **_

_What's wrong with you Cloud_.., he pondered, going further into deep thought.

_**"It has everything to do with it.."**_

_..Why were your eyes so..., _his mind drifted further.

_**"...you're running away.."**_

_..so dark.._

_**"..I'm just getting started."**_

"Sephiroth?" a voice broke the atmosphere.

"Hu-what?" he asked, coming out of a slight daze.

"Are you alright?" asked Vincent, standing near him.

"Yeah, I am..", the angel answered, masking his uneasiness.

He didn't like how this demonic Cloud seemed to pierce into him, even slightly nor did he like his mind being invaded at all. A sudden faint presence then caught his senses.

Denzel stood up and started to pace, trying to shake the remaining pain, "Okay, I'm thinking Aerith brought you guys here for a reason so, maybe it was to help us against Cloud..".

"Perhaps she wants them to change Cloud's fate.", stated Vincent.

Marlene looked up as if something got her attention.

"That's very true.", the blue-eyed brunette replied.

"Okay so, if that's the reason, then where is he?" asked Cid.

"I don't know.. it's not like him to just disappear like that..", stated the brunette swordsman.

"Denzel..?"

He turned to face Marlene, "Yeah?".

"Something's wrong.. I heard Aerith's voice.." she said.

"She's right.. I heard her too.", Sephiroth added.

"Ain' that 'posed to be a good thing?" the pilot asked, standing up.

"But Aerith can't speak unless Cloud's presence has waned..", the former orphan answered.

"..Or if he's gone somewhere else." the former turk finished.

Denzel suddenly felt as if the entire atmoshere became 10x heavier.

_No, he didn't... _

He stopped pacing and glanced at Vincent.

"You don't think..", he asked out loud to everyone.

"It's highly possible, considering you 4 were brought here, he may have found a way back to your time.", explained the older gunman.

The Commissioner stood up as well.

"He's right, considering the theory that time becomes 'distorted' as in, unstable with us here, it would be easier for him to leave this point to ours."

"That's why he left..." the brunette swordsman trailed off.

"Come on, we gotta get you guys back, before he destroys your world too!" Marlene jumped up and went to the door.

Everyone followed suit and left the bar, heading for the one place they knew was their only way back...

Aerith's waterpool.

**AUTHOR NOTES: **Whew that chappy was a bit long xD. Hope it answers questions you guys had about evil Cloud. Last few chappys are coming soon so hope you guys keep reading! I'll fix any grammar mistakes and pacing, once I go back over it.


	5. Where Demons Tread

**AUTHOR NOTES:** Okay peeps, here's the next chappy, and sorry if the fight scenes are bad, not too good with them. On with the story!

**FINAL FANTASY VII: INNER DEMONS**

**Chapter 4 - Where Demons Tread**

Having arrived at Aerith's pool of water, they all gathered around it, seeing the Lifestream glow flowing within it. Sephiroth knew this wasn't going to be easy.. especially since it was essentially Cloud in a way. Now he really wanted to change the blonde's fate because he knew none of them would want to witness Cloud like that, let alone go through all of that again now that they knew...

"Alright.." said Denzel, "You guys better get back before he does anything bad."

"Aerith can't hold the wormhole open much longer..", Marlene added.

"How was she able to bring us here in the first place if Cloud's presence holds her back?", Reeve inquired.

"She said she was able to gather strength to help the planet do so, in the 5-year period he was gone. Apparently it's the longest he's ever remained absent.", Sephiroth explained, hearing her voice earlier.

"It was. I guess she got lucky.", Denzel vocally pondered.

"It makes sense but we really gotta go.", the pilot stated, walking to the edge.

Reeve nodded in agreement, followed by Cid who said goodbye to them and Vincent.

"Well, here goes nothin'.." he stated, jumping into the pool.

A subtle flash displayed and then dimmed. Reeve stepped to the edge next.

"I'll make the others aware of the situation after I exit on the other side. Thank you Denzel, for explaining everything, you too Marlene."

The blue-eyed brunette nodded and Reeve took his leave. Tifa went next, thanking all 3 of them rather quietly as Marlene hugged her tightly.

"Marlene..." Tifa trailed off.

"Bye Tifa... I'm sorry about what happened.. and it was great to see you again..", she said to the brunette fighter, "I only wish we had more time to talk.."

"I know.. and don't worry so much, I'll-.. I'll be alright..", Tifa replied, clearly still hurt from the incident.

Marlene pulls back and looks her in the eyes.

"Be strong, Tifa. Remember who Cloud really is, the one you know.."

Tifa nodded and then Denzel hugged her next, bidding her farewell. She went to the edge of the pool and then jumped in, another flash brightening and then dimming. The former villain then made his way to the pool.

"Sephiroth.", started Denzel.

The former general glanced back at him.

"Be careful.. don't let him get too far into your head.", he explained, "I saw the look on your face earlier.. Don't let him get to you or to your Cloud either.."

"Yeah.. I know. Thank you again, for your help.", Sephiroth took a breath.

"Don't give him an opening, he'll most likely take it."

The silver-haired swordsman could tell he was deeply serious and nodded.

"Sephy?", Marlene spoke up.

"Hm?"

He turned to face her only for her to rush into his arms again, hugging him. A few tears streamed from her face as she looked up at him.

"I'm happy I got to see you again.. All of you.", she said, her voice wavering, "I'll miss you..", she hugged him tighter.

Sephy reciprocated the hug, knowing they would have to stay in their time.

"You were always a strong girl, Marlene.." Sephiroth smiled, "You 2 take care of each other, you as well, Valentine."

"Yeah." she smiled at him, letting go and stepping back, Vincent nodding.

He turned and glanced at them a last time, nodded and then went into the pool, the green light and fluid like streams carrying him in a direction as he succumbed to slight dizziness.

The One-Winged Angel then found himself on the floor of the church suddenly, as if he had never left, the pool of water behind him. He got off the floor and stood up when his senses picked up Tifa and Cid nearby. He walked outside a ways from the church towards them and realized they were back in their own time.. but something felt wrong. Cid noticed him and asked if he felt Demon Cloud yet, but Sephiroth nodded no. The pilot then relayed to him that Reeve went to go find their Cloud to explain the situation, though Tifa remained quiet.

"He should be back before too long." stated the bright-blonde, inspecting the blade on his spear.

Sephiroth looked at Tifa and thought of trying to say something, but he didn't know what to say. He was probably the last person she'd want to talk to at this point. His deep thinking was then interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle.

Fenrir.

With it, came Reeve's truck and they both pulled up, alongside each other.

"Guys what's going on? What happened earlier in the church?" Cloud asked, confused, getting off his bike and walking towards them.

Tifa took a step back as he came closer, remembering how the demonic one used his original self against her and the blonde swordsman noticed. She was the only one visibly wary of the possibility that he was the demon as the rest kept it to themselves, Reeve never having dropped his guard.

"Tifa? What's wrong?", he asked, seeing the almost scared look on her face.

"Cloud, we need to explain alot to you and where we've been..", voiced Reeve, having come out of his truck, still wary.

Sephiroth called Vincent. keeping a dead-eye on Cloud as the Commissioner took the ex-mercenary aside and explained everything as quickly as possible; their trip to the future, his demonic future self, Tifa's nearly fatal encounter, what tipped him over the edge and the current situation. After about another 20 minutes, Reeve finally finished, Vincent on his way from the relayed phonecall.

Cloud was visibly dumbfounded and shocked, trying to take in everything Reeve had just said. He slowly looked up at Tifa, realizing why she seemed afraid of him. He also noticed the now bruised mark on her throat from where the raven-haired demon had strangled her. The former ShinRa MP started to feel a little overwhelmed.

"I... just give me a minute... this is alot to take in..", he said with reluctance.

"I'm sorry Cloud but, we really don't have the time for this.. he's here now and we need to find him." stated Sephiroth with an apologetic but firm tone, taking notice of the sky beginning to darken.

Cloud's reaction told him he likely wasn't the demon.

"I know.. I just..", the ex-mercenary trailed off.

The former villain was afraid of this. Upon coming back, he started having second thoughts about telling Cloud about it, knowing he would be overwhelmed by it and unable to absorb it as fast. Regardless, there was no point in keeping it from him as his demonic self would just end up revealing it and he knew he'd need Cloud's help with him. He wouldn't be able to do this alone..

Sephiroth looked up when he felt a familiar aura, turning to see Vincent leaning against truck. Reeve took notice as well.

"I'm getting a bad sense in the air.." he said.

"Yes.. we need to find him.", responded the Commissioner.

"Did I... really do all of that?", Cloud was still overcome by it all.

The silver-haired swordsman opened his mouth to respond when a strong presence hit him, all senses instantly flipping on alert, whipping around to face it.

"You did alot more than that, or should I say, we did..." came that sinister, almost baritone voice.

Everyone looked up at him as he stood on some old Midgar debris. Tifa then realized the Cloud in front of her really was him. He then locked eyes with his future counterpart, the demon's slitted, blood-red eyes piercing into the blonde's ocean-blue ones. A sudden head-rush hit the present Cloud, making him flinch as strange images briefly flashed in his mind. A few he made out were of Tifa... and fear gripped him. More images came as he went to his knees with a hand on his head, grunting some as the others took notice.

"Cloud?", Tifa called out, going to him.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.

"What are you doing to him?", he asked with his trademark cold tone.

"Our mental patterns crossed into each other. He knows who I am now, because we're the same being..", a half-grin appeared in the demonic Cloud's face.

"A time distortion.." Reeve mumbled.

The angel tensed, preparing for a fight.

A set of shrill sounds went off in the distance and upon hearing it, Reeve, Cid and Tifa knew what they were.

"Oh damnit! They followed him here too?" the pilot yelled out, gripping his spear.

Vincent went for his Cerberus.

"We need to stop the demonspawn from overrunning Edge. Vincent, you, Tifa and Cid come with me, and Vince I'll need to borrow your phone to call Barret.", ordered the Commissioner.

Tifa looked up.

"Tifa we're going to need your help, we have to go now.", called Reeve.

"..Alright.", she nodded, turning back to the blonde swordsman, "Cloud listen.. I know it wasn't you.. it wasn't the real you who hurt me.. please, that's not you. Don't let him get to you, okay?"

Cid called to her and she stood up, reluctant to leave him, but knew they needed help and eventually left with them towards Edge.

Cloud heard her but he was still confused and shocked by it all.

_Is that.. what I'm supposed to be? But.. it can't..._, he thought.

The demonic one walked towards them, Sephiroth moving 2 steps over in front of the blonde.

"I'm still interested in seeing how long you last this time, One-Winged Angel.", mused the raven-haired demon.

"You would be..", Sephiroth's voice held a flat but menacing tone.

"You're angry.. that's rare for you.", Demon Cloud paced around on alert.

"Stay _out_ of my head.", the angel hissed.

"Touchy.", with that the demon went for the ex-general and the 2 went spinning into the air, the darker one materializing his Fusion sword.

Sephiroth immediately dodged the 6 swords flying at him, though they were somewhat narrow misses and continued to defend himself, bare-handed. Mentally controlling each sword, Demon Cloud surrounded him frequently with the Fusion pieces as he himself went past and left some hits with his own bare hands and some kicks. The angel blocked most but a few were landed, namely on his back and the area above his left temple. He made a quick glance over to their Cloud, who was getting up off the ground.

_Cloud.. you've got to get ahold of yourself. I'm going to need your help with this.. please.._, he thought to himself, really hoping the blonde hadn't gotten lost in guilt again.

The ex-mercenary then looked up to see the battle that had started.

_Can that.. really be me? Tifa..._

_**"..it wasn't the real you who hurt me.."**_

He started to ponder what she mentioned 15 minutes earlier.

_**"..please, that's not you."**_

_No... she's right. I myself didn't do that to her.. or any of what he did.. because i'm not like that.. right?_

He started to come out of deep thought, managing to find some will and pulled out his own Fusion sword. Suddenly catching notice of his demonic selfs' swords, he noticed something.

_Is he controlling them with his mind? I was only ever able to do that when I used Omnislash and even then it was limited.._

After a pause, he shook his head and headed into the fight, not really knowing what he was up against.. but he had to do something.

"Whoa man, is there ever a time when we _don't_ find trouble?", yelled out Barret as he blasted demonspawn away with his gun-arm.

"Don' ya mean 'when trouble don' find _us_'?", Cid corrected him, fighting one off with his spear.

"These damn things are strong!", the rebel leader pointed out.

Indeed they were. Vincent was busy shooting each one he spotted, Reeve in close proximity to him, though it took more bullets than usual to bring them down. He didn't want to waste too much ammo and made a note that he would have to resort to hand-to-hand combat. Tifa herself was busy putting fists and feet into demonspawn, doing her best to keep more from getting further into Edge. Some people had already ended up injured and even killed, proving the legion were more formidable than the Shadow Creepers had been.

"There's so many here..", the WRO leader made notice of, "He seems fully intent on bringing our world to ruin as well."

He remained near Vincent as the latter kept the demonic things away.

"Then they'll have to destroy him. If he remains in existence here, he'll only kill us all over time.", the gunman replied.

"Yes... I only hope they can manage to defeat him for good, also for Denzel and Marlene's sake.", Reeve aimed his own gun again and shot one down after 10 bullets.

Demon Cloud and Sephiroth had been fighting for almost several hours now, the angel having suffered minor to moderate injuries in the form of gashes and scrapes from the former's Fusion sword. He hadn't resorted to using Masamune because he honestly hadn't possessed it since he was allowed back, unable to materialize it at will as before. The present Cloud himself tried to help and managed to get in a few hits, but it was alot harder than it originally seemed. He had already taken notice of the fact that his future counterpart was far stronger than him, on Sephiroth's level, which honestly worried him. Seeing his former enemy having trouble with the demonic one made him very uneasy. The former villain had managed to kick many of the swords back as they came at him and landed some blows to the demon but it still wasn't enough. His wounds were beginning to worry him as they were not healing as fast as they should be, which meant his body was beginning to weaken.

_Why am I starting to weaken?_, he pondered nervously, _My body feels as if it's slowly becoming exhausted.. Am I burning too much energy?_

In truth, Sephiroth had used part of his energy to withstand the raven-haired Strife's pressuring aura, which was no issue earlier but..

Maybe he was using too much at once.

It then occurred to him that he had been fighting at a subsequently moderate level, having unleashed a large deal of his power in order to parry and battle with him. He kicked away 2 more swords and blocked a fist from the demon. Unless..

_I haven't fought anyone beyond my standard level nor used a larger amount of power against anyone in a long time.._

The realization abruptly hit him.

_Now I see.. my corporeal body is not used to exerting so much energy and raw power at once..._

It became clear he had almost forgotten he was not a wandering entity anymore, but a physical, flesh and blood being, the planet having even pulled his body back together. Though the angel was used to battles due to SOLDIER, he had never been forced to unleash any level of power and energy more than he had been subjected to, coupled with the fact that his physical body was newly "re-created" only 3 years ago...

It left him at an increasing disadvantage.

_Dammit. Damn it all.._, he mentally kicked himself for that.

It didn't help that Cloud was still being weighed down by the current situation, from what he could tell though the blonde was visibly struggling to drop said weight. As a rare time, Sephiroth started to feel utterly nervous and even worried.

_What the hell am I going to do? At this rate, I'll end up having to go to maximum output just to stay on par with him.. and Cloud's nowhere near his max, not in the mental state he's in._

This was getting nowhere.

"You're starting to look tired Sephiroth.", stated the demonic Cloud, "But I have to admit, you're rather formidable outside an ill state. You even managed to wound me more than once."

Sephiroth began to press himself further, a faint green outline of energy wrapping around his body.

"I'd rather you not underestimate me, _demon_.", the silver-haired man stated in a venom-lined tone.

"Oh I know. Trust me, I haven't in the least.", a wicked smile played on Demon Cloud's face.

The angel still had some more strength under his belt, but he wasn't sure how much longer he would last anymore, continuing to slowly weaken.

"Don't forget, I know you rather well. I was the one you mentally and physically tortured and tormented, remember?", he mused.

For a minute there, Sephiroth almost did forget.. and felt a deep sting from his words. Denzel was right, the raven-haired demon kept referring to his past actions, directly playing on his guilt. He was really starting to feel hurt, being slapped in the face with his past actions nearly every time he spoke to him.

"..Shut up.", he went into battle with him again.

Even worse...

Sephiroth was beginning to understand how Cloud felt when he had mentally tortured the blonde before.

The blonde swordsman managed to get a few more hits off of his demonic counterpart, parrying him back as the battle raged on, both he and the angel growing tired, Cloud moreso than him. He blocked a blow from one of his swords but was then hit from behind by another and hard. He slammed forward into the ground from impact and slid a little. His strength was declining.

"I was always an expert swordsman.. but we're one in the same. I know you're every move, every tactic, every swing.", stated the demon in a wicked tone to his present self.

Sephiroth caught onto that. It was true, since he _was_ Cloud he would know all of his moves and style...

Another disadvantage.

The only reason he had even gotten any hits off him at all was because he was also fighting the angel as well, making it his only opening.

Cloud pulled himself off the ground, coming to realize the battle had moved alot closer to Edge. This was getting risky.

He had just turned to face his demonic self when the demon put a fist to his face and knocked him back, hitting the ground again. The blonde's mouth started to bleed from both the lip and his gums being scraped, running into the trail of blood from another blow he took earlier to the head. Other wounds on him started to bleed again from the sudden jerking motion his body was forced to make.

"I can see how weak I used to be. You're just too caught up in all that guilt aren't you?" he asked his present self.

Cloud looked up at him again, only to quickly realize that was a mistake. His head was filled with more images again, things his demonic self had done. He took notice of a man with wavy-brown hair, battered and beaten in some as he grabbed his head again.

"You strangely remind me of Denzel.. I guess he got it from you.", he paced around.

_..Denzel? ..Is that who that was..?_, he thought, trying to straighten out his mind, _..I hurt him too...? No..._

Cloud was failing to fight off the overbearing influence of his demonic counterpart's intruding memory fragments.

Sephiroth's wounds were continuing to slow down, which was not good. He looked off to one side and caught sight of the Avalanche group, minus Yuffie, fighting on the outskirts of Edge against the legion. He was also trying to figure out how to put an end to the situation as quickly as possible, for he and Cloud were both losing ground. Cloud himself managed to get up again and the demon put out a kick, but the blonde parried it, pushing himself in for a side-attack, but the demon blocked it, grabbing his wrists and holding him still. He forced the blonde to face him, locking eyes with him again.

Tifa, growing tired from battle, then caught sight of them in peripheral vision, realizing how close they were. She saw Cloud being held up by his demon self and started going towards them.

"You care about all of them so much don't you?", the demon stated, "Especially her.. To think I was so tied down to all of it."

"I'm not you..", Cloud spat out slowly.

"As long as you stay alive, you will be me.", he cracked a sinister smile.

The Fusion sword then slammed hard into the blonde from behind, sending him flying as the demon let go of his wrists, falling into the ground. He let out a loud yell from impact catching both Sephiroth's and Tifa's ears.

"Cloud!" she yelled out, seeing him get hurt.

Sephiroth went for the demon and tried to land a fist but missed, Demon Cloud's boot kicking very hard into the angel's back.

He was forced forward and then straight to the ground, rolling to his side and nearly losing consciousness.

"You're weakening Sephiroth, I can tell.", he said in a very cold tone, "I'm not so easy to hide things from, not like I used to be."

Tifa started for the former ShinRa MP when she felt herself being held in place and rather tight again. Fear got ahold of her when she realized it was the same force that held her in place before and she started to feel panic rising.

"You're just walking right into this aren't you?" he asked out loud to the brunette fighter, feeling her fear through his hold on her.

He jumped across several buildings and landed next to her, still holding her in place but raising her into the air.

"I can see how much he cares for you, though it seems you'll only become an annoying intrusion later."

She struggled hard but the invisible force only held tighter. Sephiroth started to come out of his vertigo and slowly tried to get up. Cloud stirred but was unable to get up just yet, the deep wound on his back making his clothes sticky from bleeding.

"Tifa.. No...!", he yelled out, trying to get up but was failing.

"I let go of you a long time ago." the demon said to her again, filling her with physical pain.

She started to yell out, unable to get free as it spread through her like a poison.

Sephiroth looked up then as she started to scream and potent, deep fear filled the blonde rapidly. Reeve, Barret and the others turned at the sound of her scream.

"..NO!", Cloud screamed out.

Pushing himself further and forcing out more energy, the demon found a hard fist meeting his chest, the ex-general putting enough force behind it to catapult him directly into an old Midgar building, causing it to collapse entirely. Tifa fell to the ground, the pain instantly subsiding and leaving her nerves raw, almost numb.

"Bastard.", the partially battered Sephiroth firmly stated with a cold, searing stare, "I'm not _that_ weak, not yet."

Cloud let his head fall back to the ground as he watched, the panic and fear he had felt moments ago beginning to decrease. That was really close. Barret started going for Tifa when Reeve told him to stop.

"No, we can't. We might make it harder on them if we do. We need to stay back." he said.

Barret cursed and reluctantly backed up.

The raven-haired Cloud pulled himself out of the debris, a line of blood streaming from the corner of his mouth.

"I'm _not_ letting you hurt _either_ of them.", the angel firmly stated again, his eyes burning bright teal-green.

Tifa turned herself around as he said it, realizing he had just saved her life, again.

"If that's how you want it..", the demon said with a baritone voice and then seemed to vanish.

Cloud was finally able to start getting up when he lost track of his demonic counterpart. Sephiroth looked around as well, on high-alert. Tifa slowly got to her feet, her body suffering exhaustion from the pain that seared through her and made her way towards the blonde swordsman. The One-Winged Angel didn't like this one bit.

_Where is he..?_

Everything seemed eerily quiet for about 10 minutes, Tifa finally reaching Cloud.

"Tifa.. are you alright?", he asked, trying to sit up.

"Yeah.. just really sore and tired.." she answered and then asked, "Where did he go?".

Cloud was feeling mentally exhausted himself, let alone physically.

"I don't know.. but, I don't think it's over yet..", he replied, with a rather solemn sound.

She could tell he was struggling, much like had 6 years ago before Meteorfall..

The hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood straight up upon hearing a loud masculine scream coming from behind them both. She turned around to see Sephiroth had been pinned to a wall and, to her near-horror, a piece of the Fusion sword was buried into his upper abdomen, the handle of the sword being held by the demonic Cloud. Once again, the blonde was overcome with near-panic and fear. The silver-haired man struggled to remove the sword, but his healing rate had slowed down even further, feeling far more pain than he was used to. Blood began seeping down from the wound in his abdomen and towards the ground, his hair becoming partly soaked in it. He looked at the demon in front of him, their eyes locking.

"You seem so intent on trying to protect those 2, so I think it's about time we had a little chat.", said the demon.

He held the sword in place, slowly moving it to make the angel cringe.

"Your body's succumbing to pain.. Tell me, how does it feel? To be on the other end of the sword?"

"Monster..", spat out the former villain, trying to stay on his feet.

"So are you, One-Winged Angel.", he gave a penetrating stare.

The silver-haired man felt that one sting deep and his composure began to crack.

"Shut up...", venom seethed in his voice, a mix of hurt and anger.

"Trying to hide from the past? ..Or are you just afraid of seeing what you are?", a sadistic purr lined the demon's voice.

"Get out of.. my head...", Sephiroth's anger was becoming visible and the pain increased from the tension forming.

Cloud was processing everything he was saying to Sephiroth and the prior images of Tifa nearly dying in front of him came to mind.

_Seph..._

Something deep was beginning to well up inside the blonde as he continued to watch, unable to do anything without taking a high risk. Tifa did the same, guilt slowly creeping into her mind. Demon Cloud pushed on the sword more, twisting it somewhat and the former villain yelled out in pain.

"You're afraid of being rejected by him, afraid making a mistake will make him hate you. Because you feel so guilty for what you did.. I can see it in you."

"Shut the fuck up..", his demeanor was breaking.

Tifa continued to stare, remorse beginning to take hold. The ex-mercenary was getting lost in thought, still listening.

_Are you really afraid... I'll hate you.. that much..? _

The sight of seeing him get physically and mentally tortured was becoming almost too much to bear, even for the brunette fighter.

_No... this isn't right... This is.. evil.._, she thought to herself.

It hit her like a bag of bricks.

_Is this... what it is.. what my hatred looks like..?_, she pondered, feeling very uncomfortable.

It was becoming too much, way too much. It was almost like looking into a mirror.

_No this is wrong... Am I really this cruel? He's suffering so much.._

"Cloud... maybe I was wrong..", she finally said, but he mostly didn't hear her.

"Why do you try so hard to fit into this world, when you never did..", asked the demon, "You made that clear with your prior actions."

He was getting too deep.

"I.. I just want..", the angel was faltering, emotional pain emerging on his face.

The blonde's head was facing towards the ground, his hands balling into fists. The intrusion of his counterpart's memories were starting to subside as something else started taking over. The situation in front of him was interchanging with Tifa being strangled.

_No.. this is wrong.. it's.. all wrong. This is not... it's not..._, his thoughts became louder to him.

"..Stop it...", he mumbled, getting Tifa's attention.

More pain ran through Sephiroth's body, vocally reacting to it again. The hairs on the back of Cloud's neck stood up as his aura began to shift. No, it was too much. It was wrong, _the demon_ was wrong..

"How sad.. inside you're just a scared little child, afraid of rejection..", the raven-haired Strife stated coldly.

A rising torrent of something within the blonde began to hit the surface, white fury spreading through him rapidly like wildfire. He abruptly stood straight up and gripping tight his Fusion sword.

His demonic self was suddenly knocked away by something metal, barely parrying the attack with a second piece of his own sword but the force was too great. The angel jerked forward as the 1 of 6 was yanked right out of him and he fell to the ground.

"Stop it!", Cloud yelled out.

Sephiroth was dizzy and weakened, but his mind was still able to sense something very familiar nearby... he turned his head and saw the blonde standing where the demon had been, but his aura had completely changed. The raven-haired Strife slid to a stop some ways away, taken by partial shock at the amount of force behind the swing. He didn't see that coming. He did recognize the change in aura though.

"How did you do that..", the demon seemed confused, but grabbed his fusion sword and went at his present self, the 2 colliding swords.

The blonde swordsman immediately caught the attack and locked swords with the him, his eyes burning a bright teal-green.

They were identical to Sephiroth's.

Tifa was taken by surprise by his sudden reaction.

"I've had _enough_ of this crap. I'm not you, no matter what you say, I am _not_ you and I will _**never**_ be you. I would never hurt Tifa or my friends, _not_ even Sephiroth. You're a monster and that's all _**you**_ are!", he voiced out loud to the demon, fury lining every word.

Cloud was clearly and visibly pissed off.

"You're changing the timeline..", irritation streaked on Demon Cloud's face, breaking the stalemate and engaging in battle with his present self again.

The ex-general heard Cloud's every word and came to realize he had let the demon get to him. Even if he couldn't fix what he did, he could still try to make his future better.

_..I am afraid of being rejected.. but Cloud accepts me. I need to accept my own mistakes too..._

Beginning to find a new resolve, Sephiroth grabbed a nearby rock and started to pull himself up.

Vincent, meanwhile, was watching the battle when his phone went off. He answered it and immediately recognized the voice on the other end.

"..Marlene?", he said out loud, grabbing Reeve's attention.

"What is it?", the WRO leader asked.

The gunman went quiet for a few minutes before he hung up the phone and explained.

"Marlene said, Aerith told her something we need is in the church, waiting for us to go get it."

Reeve looked confused but complied and he, Vincent, and Cid headed to the old church to find it.

Sephiroth slowly managed to get back to his feet, trying to concentrate on his battered body to try to heal it as much as he could, the large wound in his abdomen stopping the bleeding. Pain still circulated through him but he bit it back to remain stable. Part of his mind was on Cloud, wondering what had triggered his cells to awaken.

_How is that even possible? ..He was never able to control them at all before.._

The good news was, he was managing to beat back the demon a bit, but would it last?

Having found what it was Aerith had for them, Vincent put it in the back of the truck and they all took it back to the battlefield, hoping it would do some good. The truck pulled up, Tifa glancing at them as they did so and made her way to them, still trying to recover from near-body shock. Meeting up with them, she was shocked at what it was. Sephiroth was making his way toward them as well, finding it a little hard to walk straight, but managed.

"Sephiroth,", the WRO leader started, "it seems Aerith thought you would need something.."

Vincent took it out from the back and handed it to him, the angel overcome with surprise.

Cloud continued to clash swords with his future self, back and forth and managing to destroy another building. The raven-haired demon didn't like this one bit and was having trouble predicting his movements as they were somewhat different. He could feel Jenova's cells in him very prominently now and it unnerved him.

"I never did this before, so how are _you_ able to?, he asked with uncertainty and confusion.

"I'm not letting you hurt them, _not_ anymore." the blonde firmly established, getting more hits off of the demon.

Anger was becoming noticeable on his future counterpart.

"I'll make you eat those words..", he hissed, splitting his own sword into 6 again.

Cloud forced him back hard and knocked away several pieces that came flying at him, jumping to the left. The demon came in for a side-shot when pain shot across his own right side, something sharp grazing deep into his skin through his coat and top, barely managing to remain standing. He whipped around to see what it was, his burning red eyes coming to lay on Sephiroth, panting somewhat but stable.

Red blood dripped off of his Masamune.

"Not if I make you eat _yours_, first.", the angel spat out, eyes narrowed.

"_**Try**_ it.", sarcasm and venom seethed in Demon Cloud's voice.

Both the present Cloud and Sephiroth engaged in dual-battle with him, finally beginning to turn the tide of the fight. All 3 clashed swords back and forth, the raven-haired demon clearly making intent on trying to kill the former villain. He was losing his demeanor to frustration and anger which was giving openings to the 2 men. He ended struck more times by Masamune as well as the other Fusion sword, slowly being overwhelmed. Cloud then flared up, preparing to initiate Omnislash Version 6 and Sephiroth took notice.

"I know that Limit of yours well, idiot.", mused the demon, intent on confusing Cloud with his sword in order to falter the attack.

The blonde had split his sword into 6 pieces, but something changed. He instead mentally pulled them back into 1 sword, Omnislash becoming something else entirely.

_What?,_ the demon thought, momentarily dropping his guard.

Sephiroth took that moment and barrelled at him, swiping Masamune hard into his back and deep.

Cloud jumped high into the air and spun around, locking eyes with Sephiroth.

_"Use Masamune with my sword!"_

The angel heard his voice clearly in his head and then went at him spinning his Masamune around and flung as hard as he could, having filled it with the rest of his energy. It collided with his Fusion sword and both spun as a single entity surrounded in a blue and green energy field. The demon had just gotten off the ground and turned to see the intertwined swords flying straight at him and tried to block it, but the dual-swords shattered his blade, the power in their swords piercing through him, destroying his very being.

The 2 blades split off from each other and landed in the ground a ways away. Cloud landed on the ground, his slitted, teal-green eyes scanning the area, making sure the demon was gone. Glancing at Sephiroth, his eyes shifted back into ocean-blue and his aura dropped dramatically, passing out cold. The silver-haired man himself fell to his knees, now completely exhausted from overexertion and passed out as well. Tifa, Reeve and the others then ran to them, making haste to get them to the WRO building Med center.

**AUTHOR NOTES: **WHEW! That was a REALLY long chappy xD! I hope it came out alright I was trying not to rush it. Right, got one more part to do so stay tuned for the Epilogue!


	6. Epilogue

**AUTHOR NOTES**: Well, here's the last chappy peeps. I'll try to answer any questions I left open and such so hope you guys enjoy!

**FINAL FANTASY VII: INNER DEMONS**

**Epilogue**

A week had passed since the battle against the demonic Cloud, Sephiroth and the ex-mercenary both recovering in the WRO Medical Center the first few days. The blonde's wounds had healed considerably, the large one on his back having begun to scar over. The silver-haired ex-general's own body began to re-stabilize, his healing factor correcting itself and his wounds clearing up. The open wound in his abdomen was the last one still healing, but his overall health had mostly gone back to his normal rate.

The whole ordeal, however, had caused rise in alot of questions, Barret and company wanting to fully understand what had taken place a week ago. Reeve took to explaining as best he could, one question being about how Cloud was somehow able to not only re-awaken his cells without Sephiroth's influence, but also remain in control of them. The Commissioner had surmised it had to do with the resolve he had managed to gain. The angel agreed, thinking Cloud's will to protect them had become so strong it was fueled entirely by righteous fury. The Head of WRO also wondered if it was partly because he was in close proximity to the former villain, perhaps his weakened state having added to it, but they weren't entirely sure of it. It did become clear that it had only been for the tail end of the battle, seeing as Cloud did not have that overbearing aura nor the teal-green eyes when he woke up in the Med Center, hours later. Another question was why Sephiroth had subsequently weakened so badly, but he explained that himself. It was largely because his body had only been in physical existence for 3 years, thus it was not entirely stable enough to handle his higher amounts of power/energy use, just yet. One thing was for sure though. The demonic Cloud actually did leave a lasting impression on them.

Another question that did linger with them though, particularly Sephiroth, revolved around his sinister, future counterpart: Was he really just a demonic shadow of the blonde swordsman?

...Or was he actually still himself?

It was a question that was still on Sephiroth's mind today, sitting in his usual spot at the church, somewhat staring at the pool of water. Cloud was sitting on his bike, tallying up his deliveries for the day, having re-scheduled the party they didn't have a week ago to that night. He glanced over at the angel, tapping his pen on the clipboard a bit, then putting it down.

"Something on your mind?", he asked.

His silver hair moved as he shifted in his spot.

"Yeah... Can I ask you something?"

"Sure.", Cloud put his pen down.

"When you saw his memories.. did you see his mental pattern, well thought process?"

"..I'm not really sure, it's.. kinda hazy. Why?"

"Cloud... I think, somehow.. he was still you.." Sephiroth replied.

"How do you mean? They said he was virtually a demon."

"I know", he turned to face Cloud, "but.. he wasn't soulless. I saw his eyes Cloud, they were full of darkness but they weren't empty. He still had a soul."

Cloud shifted on his bike, putting both legs on one side.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, his body and his thought-process were demonic... but I think it was your soul. When Denzel said you and the demon fused together into something else, that would mean one soul was overpowered and destroyed in the process.."

Cloud remained quiet as he continued.

"I really do believe, you did overpower that demon, due to your unbreakable will to live.. but your blinding rage, fueled by Tifa's loss, crippled your mind and you lost your humanity, instead somehow taking in the demon's inhuman mentality."

"..You really think so?", the blonde asked.

"Yeah. Something about the way he spoke to me.. He was making me suffer, Cloud. I think it was partly out of revenge that he was torturing me, and not just that but in nearly the same way I had done to you.. He constantly brought up my past mistakes and used them against me too. Yes, I really do think he was still you... It would also explain why he felt so.. incredibly evil."

The ex-mecenary had to admit, it did make sense. Sephiroth then suddenly thought of something.

"Your cells.. I think Jenova may have rebuilt your mind on the demon's mentality. you did re-awaken her cells, and because you had no control over them, she acted on her own to "repair" your mental instability."

"Yeah.. like she did when Zack died..", the blonde replied.

It made sense now, the angel realizing why he had creeped him out so much, hell even scared him too. No wonder he had managed to get into his head so deep. Thinking about it was starting to make them both uncomfortable.

"You know, having figured that out, I'm really glad this is over with..", Sephiroth stated, a little unnerved.

"I agree.", the blonde picked up his clipboard again.

There was something else the angel wanted to confide in him about though.

"...I've had a few nightmares since then.." he said slowly.

Cloud stopped tapping the pen.

"...You have?", his response was strangely delayed.

"Yeah.. I don't actually see him straight-on but.. I have heard his voice in them.. like he was taunting me.", the ex-general shifted again, uncomfortably.

"I see...", the ex-mercenary paused briefly, "...I had a few myself."

"I guess he really left a bad imprint on us hmm?", Sephiroth started figiting with his cellphone.

"Try feeling like you're staring into a mirror..." Cloud stated, feeling more uneasy.

Wanting to change the subject, the angel asked about Tifa.

"How is she?"

"She's alright. She told me the other day she kind of felt guilty about how she had been treating you. And she's grateful you saved her life both times."

The angel stared at him, "..Really?"

"Yeah. She wanted to tell you herself, but she's probably still going to be nervous around you.", the blonde put his clipboard up.

Sephiroth nodded.

"Well, I better get back to bar, we're gonna start in another 2 hours. Want a ride?", Cloud asked, mounting his bike.

"No, it's fine. I'll be over there later. Thanks though.", some silver stands lightly danced in the breeze.

"Alright, later.", with that, Cloud started his bike and sped off to 7th Heaven.

The former villain stood up, deciding to go take a walk and left the church, not having noticed the odd green hue around the pool.

An hour had passed as Cloud sat at the bar with his head resting on his arm on the table. Tifa had left to go run some errands and he sat alone, thinking to himself. He lightly sloshed the little bit of water in his glass with his other hand when the door opened to the bar, a man walking in. Cloud turned to look, wondering if it was a customer.

"We're closed today." he said as he turned back around.

The hood of the man's jacket partly hid his face.

"It's alright, just.. wanted to find somewhere to rest for a few minutes.", he said.

"I see. Alright then.", the blonde turned around, "You been traveling?"

"..You could say that.", the man responded, letting his hood slide off, brown hair poking out.

Cloud hadn't directly looked at him yet. He continued to slosh the water in his glass.

"..It's been a long time.. Cloud..", the stranger said again, his blue-eyes gancing at the blonde as he stood up.

"Huh?", the ex-mercenary looked at him and suddenly had a strong feeling he had seen him somewhere before.

"I'm glad I got to see you again, the real you.. one last time.", he turned slowly and then started walking to the door.

The former ShinRa MP finally recognized him.

"...Denzel?"

The glass that held the water Cloud had been playing with had slipped out of his free hand and fell over, rousing the blonde awake. His head was still resting on his arm on the table, realizing he had dozed off. He slowly picked his head up and then turned around to look, but no one else was in the bar.

_..Was that a dream?_, he thought to himself.

He wasn't sure, but it was kind of nice. Wherever he and Marlene were in their time, at least they were free of his future counterpart's influence. He smiled and mentally thanked Aerith for helping them, even if it did bring a lot turmoil. In the end, he, Sephiroth and Tifa all learned something:

Close the door to the past and walk forward, head held high, towards the future.

**AUTHOR NOTES:** Finally, all done ^_^! Hope you guys enjoyed it and I may possibly extend this part later on, but for now. I'll leave it as is. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed!


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